Two powerful bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday afternoon, killing three people, including an 8-year-old child, and injuring more than 100, as one of this city’s most cherished rites of spring was transformed from a scene of cheers and sweaty triumph to one of screams and carnage.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.

In the middle years of World War II the German nation unleashed it's V2 rocket blitz against the city of London. This was new warfare. The V2 was the first man made platform to reach the edge of space. It's 2000 pound warhead descended at supersonic (faster than sound) speed to its point of impact. A Londoner walking down the street would not have heard it coming, there would have been no air raid warnings since early radars simply could not pick up the missile in flight. Imagine being in a crowd, hurrying to work, or to church, or to a pub, and suddenly having the entire block next to you erupt in a gigantic explosion. Imagine the dazed looks, the shock of impact, the screams of agony, the surreal sensation of being in a strange world of slow-motion horror. This was 20th century war.... where the target is not directly military but rather is aimed at the people themselves. This is how race/idelogical "hatred" is expressed.

That same type of event happened yesterday in Boston. It was not as extensive... but it was of the same essence.

This type of warfare is not ultimately political. It is not aimed at achieving some specific political objective such as obtaining control over some disputed geography.... or freedom of the seas (War of 1812)... or protection of the Union (1861-64), etc. This type of warfare is directed toward the people themselves and it is intended to reduce them to subservience or destroy them altogether. This is how a war of hatred is conducted.... and this is the type of war that is ongoing in this world now.

In a very real sense, the world has been at war for quite a few years. The violence of it has been generally localized but it has not been benign. People have died and more will die.

When Franklin Roosevelt analyzed the situation in those shock-ridden days of December 1941 he accurately assessed the significance of the events of the previous day. Not only Pearl Harbor but all across the Pacific, the United States and Britain had been attacked, suddenly and without warning, and incredible destruction and loss of life had accrued. He summed it up accurately: "Hostilities exist." We wish they didn't, we would like it to be different, we didn't want war... but it is here. What had to be done then, and what has to be done now, is for the general population to see through the shock... recognize the reality... and then adapt.

War, as with all human misery, happens at their appointed times (Eccl. 3 above). They are not chance occurrences. God is not the author of sin but He is in charge of history and when He has decreed that a time of war is present then man must not act as if it is not so. War, like other tragedies, brings out both the best and the worst in people. It is up to Christians in such times to be on the "best" side of things.

We, of all people, should understand that wishing it didn't happen is just another way of saying we don't want to be inconvenienced. Hoping that the enemy will just grow tired of blowing up people at public events, is just one more way we can justify getting on with our life according to the agenda we want to pursue without having to unduly alter our daily lives.

An 8 year old little boy was blown up. Someone hates us, the American people, that much. It may have been an isolated individual... it may not... but the psychological motivation that prompted this event is the fruit of a wide-spread comprehensive propaganda campaign that (1) provides the ideological framework that arouses hatred and justifies such actions, (2) recruits people to carry out such activities, and (3) uses such activities to inflame other fanatics to similar actions. This is war without boundaries, without safe areas, without rules. A state of war exists and we must simply come to grips with it and choose our sides.

Our first duty is to pray for guidance. Our second duty is to get our ostrich head out of the sand and realize that sacrifices will have to be made. Our third duty is to lead by moral example.

God is above war. He, as with all things, is about the business of creating a people unto Himself. He does that during war and peace... good times and bad. He sets the agenda... we don't. What we need now is godly men and women doing what has to be done, wherever it has to be done, in order that more little kids don't die hideously in a city street.

Too long a topic for complete answer. The minimum requirement is some degree of mobilization. The present structure/size of our war-fighting capacity is not where it should be to fight such a threat. The next thing is a corollary of the first: a war-time economy. This means a reordering of priorities to put the nation of a war footing and not a "Great Society" footing. After that is the recognition that this type of war is more heavily dependent on intelligence gathering than even others, such as the Great World Wars. It will require both domestic and foreign elements to it since there never has been a war in which domestic spying (at least) has not been a threat. Here, the domestic enemies are those that plant bombs at public events. There will be issues there that have to be faced intelligently and there, I think, Christians can have a great impact.